The
swearing in of George W. Bush as the 43rd president
of the United States on Thursday January 20th, 2005
saw widespread protests characterized by frequent
and sometimes violent confrontations between police
and demonstrators. As the popularity of the war
with Iraq wanes for the American people, the intensity
of the inaugural protests was another reminder that
Bush is coming under greater and more intense criticism
than any president in recent American history.
The
news organization Democracy Now! estimated that
10,000 people braved temperatures that dropped below
freezing for much of the day to demonstrate against
Bush's inauguration, but the scattered nature of
the protests make official numbers hard to come
by. Participating groups included International
ANSWER and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ),
two of the larger groups that have mobilized Americans
against the war in Iraq, as well as local anti-war
groups and a militant anarchist contingent that
clashed with riot police on several occasions. Also
present were numerous smaller groups and non-aligned
protesters many places in DC, including in the crowds
lining the parade route.
Dawn
Rally @ Malcolm X Park, DC
Thursday: DAWN Rally @ Malcolm X Park
After
a 2001 inauguration where the presidential limousine
was pelted with eggs and other objects, the capitol's
security apparatus was well prepared. Roughly 100
blocks of downtown DC were closed off to traffic
with parked buses and concrete barricades. Barring
entry to the parade route itself were a series of
fences and lines of riot police in body armor carrying
large batons and chemical gas guns. Parade-goers
were padded down and searched at security checkpoints
manned by uniformed military personnel. Units were
present from the DC Metropolitan Police, Chicago
Police Department, National Park Service, Secret
Service, and others, including men in black on rooftops,
which many suspected to be either snipers or surveillance
personnel.
While
there were only eight to ten arrests during the
day, many were injured by police. In one of many
confrontations, this one at the intersection of
7th and D streets around 1 PM, police charged an
anarchist march swinging batons overhead and firing
pepper spray indiscriminately, at times hitting
photographers and journalists. During the encounter
the anarchists threw poles, oranges and other items
at the police, who were in riot gear. The police
advanced with their batons, shoving and trampling
protesters. Some, such as demonstrator Mike Erwin,
reported being beaten, kicked and sprayed in the
eyes with pepper spray at close range. Mr. Erwin
described the pepper spray as being the most painful,
stating that the "batons weren't really that
bad." The police drove the march back
several blocks in scattered melees.
Later
that evening roughly 70 individuals were arrested
while marching in the streets of DC after leaving
a punk rock show at midnight, allegedly headed to
crash a Bush celebration party.
And
while tight security prevented a repeat of the embarrassment
of the 2001 parade, dissent was everywhere in the
nation's capitol, including Mr. Bush's inauguration
speech, which was interrupted by three different
groups. The activists interrupted Mr. Bush with
banners and chants of "Bring our troops home"
and "No war". During the inauguration
parade, which had heavy security even for such an
event, Vice-President Cheney was hit with a snowball.
And the night before, a black-tie ball thrown by
the Texas State Society in honor of Bush's inauguration
was the site of a street-theater style demonstration
by the
groups Code Pink, Billionaires for Bush and a group
calling itself the 'Reagan Home for the Criminally
Insane'.
Abu
Graib Fraternity
Protests
were also held in most major cities in the United
States, with several thousand marching in Los Angeles
and an estimated 8,000 demonstrating in San Francisco
against Bush and the War in Iraq, with supporting
actions as far away as Tokyo.
The
politics of the demonstrators in Washington included
the range of progressives in America, from Kerry
supporters, some of whom voiced condemnation of
the tactics of the more radical groups, and Green
party members, to Anarchists and Communist groups
such as ANSWER. However, many of those who came
to protest Bush either came with no affiliation
or were to be found somewhere in the middle of that
spectrum. The DC Anti-War Network (DAWN), a local
organization that turned out that several thousand
for their rally and march, represented diverse groups
who came together on a few principles of unity,
including support for the Palestinians and opposition
to the War in Iraq. Karen O'Keefe, a DAWN organizer
who spoke at a morning DAWN rally, says that her
group represents "huge differences in opinion"
that work together on a common cause.
Gerard
Jean-Juste
DAWN Rally: Jean-Juste spoke of Bush's coup to remove
Bertrand Artistide from office in Haiti (one of
several speakers)
Present
at the rally was Father Gerard Jean-Juste of Haiti,
a clergyman who was imprisoned by the Haitian government
while feeding the hungry. Mr. Jean-Juste spoke passionately
about the connection between the Bush administration
and the removal of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide on February 29th of last year. Also speaking
was David Cobb, the green party presidential candidate,
and the rapper Son of Nun, who is a high school
teacher in Baltimore. Son of Nun, whose name is
a biblical reference, performed a piece that connected
IMF (International Monetary Fund) policies, the
situation in Haiti and the war in Iraq to a militant
call to resist the Bush administration.
In
among the protesters, who at times were mixed in
with conspicuously affluent Bush supporters sporting
cowboy hats and full-length fur coats, were small
but vocal groups of counter-demonstrators. Present
was the right-wing the group Protest Warrior, whose
large, sandwich board style signs were similar to
those of the protesters but with diametrically opposed
messages. The interaction between protesters and
Bush supporters was heated at times.
